A CAST OF THOUSANDS: A thousand families from around the world have convened, in pictorial form, in Merrion Square, Dublin 2, where they will stay until the end of October.
Part of an exhibition organised by Concern and Suas, the photographs come from Uwe Ommer's "family album of Planet Earth", a Unicef project that took him to 150 countries over four years. He chose the families because he believed they represented the cultures they came from. The family above live in California. You'd never have guessed, would you? Nicoline Greer
CONRAD COOKS Asian food is on the menu at the Conrad Hotel, in Dublin 2, for a week from September 25th, when Sam Ang, chef at the Conrad Singapore, pays a visit. There'll be tom yum goong soup, seared rare marlin with soba noodles, fillet of barracuda, an Asian à la carte lunch and, in the evenings, a five-course tasting menu (€55). MCD
GUARANTEED AFRICAN
Lord Powerscourt would get a surprise if he could see his Dublin town house today. The Powerscourt Centre is adopting an African theme this afternoon, with the Children of Soweto and South African DJs performing against a backdrop of giant photographs of the continent, South African wine tastings run by Vaughan Johnson's shop, and an exhibition of South African art at the Solomon Gallery.
It coincides with the recent opening of World Design, a shop whose owner, Annig Barrett, sells colourful goods that are a nice balance of tradition and modernity. Barrett, who was born in Ireland and grew up in Botswana, took a degree in business and politics at Trinity College Dublin, then spent a year travelling the world, trading in crafts. The shelves of her shop are stacked with handmade ceramics, beadwork, silverware and accessories. Many of the items, including tableware, baskets and floor mats, are made by Gone Rural, a group of 800 women in rural Swaziland. You can also find jewellery made from the shells of ostrich eggs, beads and baskets that use telephone wires, and gorgeously gaudy recycled paper bowls and picture frames using sardine-tin labels. Everything can hold its own against European design, Barrett says. World Design, Powerscourt Centre, Dublin 2, 01-6139032, www.worlddesign.ie Nicoline Greer
NATURE'S BERRY BEST
Sometimes you've got to bow to Mother Nature's infinite wisdom. As we approach late autumn - and, dare I say it, the first sniffles and colds of early winter - what does she do? She packs hedgerows with more vitamin C then you could shake a stick at, in the form of blackberries. Blackberries contain polyphenol antioxidants, natural chemicals that can improve our metabolisms, and are so abundant in vitamin C that they were once used to treat scurvy.
Given the money we shell out on soft fruit - I recently paid €8 for a punnet of blueberries - it's absurd that each year millions of blackberries rot in ditches all over Ireland. Pick them instead and you can freeze them, to enjoy for months to come. They are supremely useful: they can go in jams, smoothies, tarts, wine, tea, ink and dyes.
If you haven't picked any yet this year, you need to get moving - as long as you don't mind breaking the taboo of picking them after September 15th, when the devil claims any that are left for himself. Mind the thorns, though, and avoid bushes on busy roads; apart from the dangers of traffic, it is thought that exhaust fumes pollute roadside berries.
This year I decided to be adventurous and make jam. It took an hour to pick enough for five jars, but it was an enjoyable hour. You would understand why the fruit was once used for dye if you saw my hands afterwards (my face and mouth weren't much better).
Making jam is a cinch. I heated two kilograms (four pounds) of berries in a little water; softened two cooking apples until they were mushy; and warmed the contents of a bag of sugar in the oven. Then I put it all in a big pot, simmered it for 15 minutes and, voilà, had enough for five pots of the greatest blackberry-and- apple jam ever.
The brown bread I had yesterday with a big dollop of freshly made jam was a treat. The mother-in-law was on last night; we agreed to trade some of her strawberry jam for my blackberry. I reckon two pots of hers for one of mine would be fair. Michael Kelly
PICTURES GET POLITICAL
Dublin Theatre Festival and Dublin Fringe Festival may be grabbing the headlines, and the Spiegeltent your affections, but remember to check out the Stranger Than Fiction documentary season, at the Irish Film Institute from September 28th to October 1st. This year the festival travels to Galway, Belfast and Waterford as well, and the line-up is so diverse that the programme makes for great reading. Leonard Cohen, Zinedine Zidane and the Brazilian singer Maria Bethânia are among those profiled. Two political documentaries stand out: Our Brand Is Crisis follows the election campaign of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada of Bolivia, who hires US adviser James Carville to aid "the spread of democracy", with some troubling results (Friday, September 29th, 8.15pm). And before you take another sip of your coffee, make a booking to see Black Gold, a devastating look at the coffee industry - and one man's attempts to bring the benefits of fair trade to 70,000 struggling farmers in Ethiopia. The directors Nick and Marc Francis will attend the screening, on Saturday, September 30th, at 10.30am. IFI, Eustace Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, 01-6793477, www.irishfilm.ie Patsey Murphy
FISH FOR COMPLIMENTS
It's official: Irish smoked salmon is the best. Wild smoked salmon produced by Sally Barnes of Woodcock Smokery, in Castletownshend, Co Cork, triumphed over more than 4,500 food products from Ireland and the UK to take the supreme championship at the Great Taste awards in London last week. Barnes, who is originally from Ayreshire, in Scotland, but has been living in Cork for more than 30 years, began experimenting with smoking fish, using a modified tea chest, in an attempt to cope with the occasional glut of fresh fish landed by her fisherman husband. Then, in 1981, a bad debt led her to acquire a mini-kiln, and a fledgling business was born. She now smokes herring (to make kippers), tuna, mackerel, sprats and haddock, in addition to wild salmon, which she sells online and retail, in small quantities as well as sides. You can buy the award-winning salmon at www.woodcocksmokery.com . Marie-Claire Digby
COLLECT LIKE A CONNOISSEUR
Time was when some of us at Opening Lines collected crisp packets. Back then, a bag of Smiths Salt 'n' Shake crisps was a prized feature of any serious collection. Now you are nobody in this country if you can't wax lyrical about your collection of art, wine or crafts - or at least about your aspirations to own one. To help out, the newly launched Collectors Club brings together experts and like-minded people to discuss collecting and investing in everything from teaspoons to contemporary jewellery. There is a membership fee of €100 a year; any profits will be used to sponsor favourite artists. See www.collectorsclub.ie. Róisín Ingle
WHEN GOLF MET POOL
If you can't drag yourself away from the Ryder Cup coverage next weekend but still feel moved to swing a club, Golfer's Putter Pool might be a solution. You hit coloured and numbered balls, as in pool, but using a club to putt them across the floor and into six "pockets". It's sold by B Cool Gadgets, Jervis Shopping Centre, Dublin 1 (01-8728282), and Pavilion Shopping Centre, Swords, Co Dublin (01-8075742), and from www.bcool gadgets.com. If all that indoor putting blunts your outdoor game, you can enlist the help of the Ballfinder Scout to locate golf balls. You point the mobile- phone-sized device towards the area the ball landed in, press a button and wait for a vibration and a red light. It can locate the ball once three dimples are visible, scanning up to 50sq m a second (but not through water). See www.vectordirect.tv. Orla Tinsley
IRELAND'S BEST BREAD SAMBO
The four finalists have been selected and today is the last day to vote for your favourite in the Hellmann's €20,000 Great Irish Sandwich competition. Will it be Vincent Naughton's Petit Brekkie (bacon, egg, cheese and avocado on French bread), Jane Mullins's Chow Bella (mozzarella, tomato and avocado on ciabatta), Paul Enright's Jaw Dropper (chicken, curry powder, cranberry sauce, banana, apricot, coconut and rocket on toasted white bread) or Carmel Sweeney's Fruity Beauty (raisins, walnuts, pineapple, cheddar cheese and hickory bacon on a bagel)? Vote on www.willyoursandwich makeit.ie, or by text, and you could win a trip for two to Hawaii. Marie-Claire Digby